Sylvia's Simple Shots

My niece came up this week so we can take a trip to visit Mom in hospital.

My main nativity set is a White Matte Bisque Porcelain one by Avon.  I have a large stable to house them but of course all that is packed. She is always on the look out for additional pieces so she brought this 2nd Wiseman to me and the Angel Gabriel.  

Unfortunately, the did not come with their boxes so I will have to design a storage solution.  

I am still missing another wiseman, animals of every kind, and shepherds.

My sister called over the holidays as she had found some pieces but she thought they were Mary and Joseph so we let those go.

Another gift from my niece.  She bought a couple of these a long while ago when I was anticipating moving into a new place.  That did not happen and since I have gotten rid of the sofa (which I miss a lot!) she brought one of the chairs up.

Beautiful mid century lounge chair in a great yellow color.  It is vinyl upholstery in superb condition.  Dark wood frame in excellent shape. Comfortable.

It offers me a change from my glider chair so I am grateful she had room to bring it with her.

I finished this book - Katheryn's Secret by Linda Hall.  The story is set in Maine about a family cottage willed by Katheryn to her niece Sharon. 

Sharon is a writer facing a book deadline and taking time to visit Maine and the cottage is more important. Right?  She takes a couple of weeks with her teenage daughter tagging along. Her husband will join them a bit later.

Her aunt Katheryn Sullivan had not married and lived in this cottage with her sisters for many years.  She was eccentric, a dreamer, romantic and a storyteller.   Sharon finds a mysterious disappearance of a child and through the search for her resting place uncovers deep secrets. 

She finds folks who knew and did not tell but fortunately she was able to uncover the family history and bring closure to the events. 

I made a visit to the local ReUse Center as well.  I am working another version of essential oil diffusers/tree scent ornaments which features sewing thread spools. 

I was hoping to use wooden ones but only found a few.  Of course, the plastic ones are everywhere.  I will have to see whether I can achieve a look I am happy with using the plastic ones.

There were bits of velvet which should work wonderfully. Some colorful yarn and some wool skeins.

I will post when I have made a version I am happy with.

Another book completed - Iris and Ruby by Rosie Thomas.  This is my second book by this author and it was wonderful story based in Cairo Egypt this time.  The other was the Kashmir Shawl.

Her granddaughter Ruby from England appears on Iris's doorstep unannounced. She has run away and needs a place to stay. Can she?

Her quiet household with the houseman Mamdooh and Auntie the house keeper is disrupted by this young person and the friends she is making in the area. 

The novel moves between the years Iris was a young woman living in Cairo during the Second World War and her now at 82 years of age still living in Cairo but starting to lose her memories.  Ruby wants to help her grandmother preserve her beloved history so they start to set time aside to reminisce and capture the past.

It is a wonderful story which reunites 3 generations of women and helps Iris, Lesley her estranged daughter and Ruby the willful granddaughter see each other's point of view and life history.

Nativity Photo Shoot - Card Samples

A friend set up a different nativity than her usual Willow Tree one this passed Christmas season. It is stained glass which is one of my favorite styles. I found out that it was her mother's and it came to her a few years ago. It was gorgeous so we arranged for me to photograph it with the idea of making Christmas cards. For her, she liked the idea that she could give personal cards to family and I loved the nativity. Win Win.  

I arrived with lights, backdrops fabrics and stand, and camera gear.  I set it up on her dining room table. It had the Holy Family, three Wisemen and 3 Shepherds which were separate pieces so it offered a good amount of flexibility in layout. It was very delicate so I had to very careful. I spent several hours using mostly natural light pouring in from her dining room window. I did run out of light in late afternoon which brought the photo shoot to an end.

Following are the cards I have prepared as samples for her.

This one on the left features the Holy Family by itself.

It is a 5x7 panel card with a 4x6 photo on the front.

The greeting was added to the photo.

A sentiment and credits have been added to the back.


This is a different photo of the Holy Family.  I love how Joseph's robe glistens.  It was printed 4x4 inches and I printed the sentiment above the photo.


It is an A2 panel with the greeting on the front and a sentiment and credits on the back.

This card features the full set including the Shepherds and the 3 Wisemen.

It was printed at 3.5x 5.00 inches and placed on an A2 card (4.25 x 5.5 inches folded at the top).

I printed the greeting at the top along with credits on the back.

This one has a quarter sheet sentiment insert adhered to the inside.

I have used 110lb white card stock in all of these cards.

This card is also an A2 with a top fold.

This photo features the Holy Family and the 3 Wisemen with a different background.

It is much warmer in tone.

This one also has a quarter sheet insert on the inside.

She will have to decide which photo she likes the most, the style of the card she prefers then I will be making Christmas cards. 

It will be so much fun.

Christmas Card Challenge - July - Copper Wisemen

I am catching up on my card challenge.

I started with a warm light blue card. 
I added a piece of designer paper by Imaginations - Sky.  It was cut to leave a small border.

I used the Stampin Up Come to Bethlehem set onto vellum and embossed it with copper powder.  It was trimmed to the edge of the DSP. I tacked in in place with a bit of ds tape behind the wisemen.

I then cut a piece of white card stock to complement the sand dune on the vellum.  I hand cut that and glued it onto the card front and then trimmed it to the bottom of the card. I then used a push pin for the holes for the copper brads. Two round ones in the corners and a star one in the middle of the star.

Christmas Card Challenge - March - Purple / Wisemen

This is my card for this month's challenge.

I applied liquid acrylic color diluted with water to photo paper with a paint brush. One for yellow a large one of purple. I planned where I applied the color based on the graphic of the wisemen or kings.  The image comes from Pixabay. Once the photo paper was dry I printed the image in ink jet black on top of the color.  I trimmed the 4x6 inch photo paper to 4 x 5.25 inches. I adhered the main image to the black card. I flagged the ends of the banner with the Stampin Up Banner Triple punch. I applied the banner greeting on the card front with 3D foam tape.  I used a purple card on the right.

Submitting to the following challenges:
Weekly Christmas Card Challenges #13

Holly Jolly - Add a sentiment

Christmas Card Challenge - January - Embossing

The challenge for January is a technique - embossing with all it`s variations.  You can use embossing folders, heat/thermal embossing, letterpress, hand embossing, stencils with a stylus to mention a few.  What comes to mind for you? This leaves the subject matter totally open.  Give it a try and leave me a comment with a link to your card.

Here`s my card for this challenge.
I chose an embossing folder by Cuttlebug which is called the Three Kings.  I inked up the background side with navy ink so my sky would be colored.  I ran the folder through the Big Shot with a piece of white card stock and then trimmed it down to fit it onto a navy card.   I added the greeting with a small clear stamp in the bottom left hand corner.  I added a bit of bling with an self adhesive rhinestone in the middle of the star. 

Here's my second attempt with a Stampin Up! Lovely Lilac die ink pad.  Gives a different look and is messier. It took several tries to get one embossing I was happy with.  I like the larger greeting on this one, which was done with a clear stamp.  I was able to create some texture in the sky with this ink pad.